


Duty

by trinaest



Category: Merlin (BBC)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-06
Updated: 2011-01-06
Packaged: 2017-10-15 07:26:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/158462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trinaest/pseuds/trinaest





	Duty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mrsbigbear](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mrsbigbear).



Merlin trailed after Arthur wearily. Judging by Arthur’s slumped shoulders, he was just as tired. After the fight they’d just had, it wasn’t surprising. He sighed, but kept careful watch. His duty was to protect the future king, and unlike some of his other duties, he intended to perform this one flawlessly.

When the creature rushed at Arthur from the darkness beside the path, Merlin was more resigned than surprised. Arthur drew his sword and blocked the beast, but lacked the strength to fight it off. So Merlin…helped. His eyes glowed gold briefly as he mentally chanted a spell which caused the creature to simply lose interest in them and fly away.

Merlin breathed a sigh of relief, and Arthur turned to look at him incredulously.

“Did you see that?”

“Where do you think I was? Of course I saw that!”

“What on earth was it?”

“I have no idea. We’ll have to see if Gaius has it in one of his books.”

Arthur gazed in the direction it had flown. “I don’t know why it suddenly left like that, but I’m certainly not going to complain about it.” He sheathed his sword and began trudging toward Camelot again.

Merlin groaned. “Arthur, it’s going to be hours before we get back to the castle on foot, it’s the middle of the night, and I can tell from following you that you’re as exhausted as I am. Shouldn’t we rest?”

“Rest? Knights are trained to--“ He gave Merlin an intense look and cut himself off. “But you aren’t a knight, are you?”

“Well, no, not exactly…” Merlin glanced down, uncomfortable with the scrutiny.

“Oh, all right. We’ll rest.” He slung an arm over Merlin’s shoulder, which would have been nice if it weren’t for the extra weight of the chain mail. Oh, who am I kidding, Merlin thought, it’s nice anyway.

Somehow they supported each other as they stumbled to find a good, semi-sheltered spot to rest for a few hours.

“Here we go. Sit down, Merlin.” Arthur looked around to make sure they were situated ideally for reacting to any threats--after all, they’d just been menaced by a winged beast--and then settled next to Merlin.

Arthur sighed and shifted toward Merlin so they were again supporting each other as they leaned against a tree. Within moments, Arthur drifted into sleep. Merlin, nearly ready to follow him into slumber, smiled to himself. Sometimes protecting the future king took some real creativity; that man would keep moving until he dropped in his tracks without Merlin around to slow him down once in a while.


End file.
